Bureaucracy as Story

BUREAUCRACY.  

Not exactly a hot topic for summertime reading.  Yet your bureaucracy is a story.  Have you read it lately?

The administrative system governing your organization is what defines its bureaucracy.  The word evokes negative connotations for most of us.  Who hasn’t been caught up in a process or system that seems so prolonged, complicated and disconnected from the actual ’thing’ we are trying to accomplish or obtain?  Though bureaucracy isn’t inherently evil, it does have a natural instinct for ignoring reality.  It is prone to developing unnatural structures that have little connection to on-the-ground reality.  A classic example is how colonial European bureaucratic powers carved up Africa. Borders were drawn up that ignored river lines, mountain ranges, tribal realities and trade routes.  Peoples once naturally connected found themselves scattered and splintered along arbitrary borders that defined these new countries.  Those countries were drawn and defined by bureaucrats who never set foot on African soil! A European bureaucrat, instead of aligning their story (formation of countries) to fit reality, forced reality to fit their story.  A classic bureaucratic disconnect with disastrous and lingering consequences.

Your organization no doubt has a story it wants to tell. There is a purpose for which you exist and your hope as a leader is that that purpose is the prime story that comes across when people encounter your organization.  

 I have had to deal with civic authority multiple times when developing a property in my city over the past few years.  Although the story I hear from my city officials is all about functional, sustainable neighbourhoods and healthy communities, our civic administration’s reality is encased in by-laws and codes.  As time goes on this bureaucratic ‘story’ only seems to expand as rules and regulations are added.  Bureaucracy becomes its own story.  I recall a meeting with an official prior to our purchase of a facility to assess whether we could utilize the land for our purposes.  That official carried into our meeting a physical binder of codes that was literally 8 inches thick.  What a metaphor!  What a ‘story’!  As our project progressed, when our on the ground reality & needs did not match their bureaucratic story, it became clear which story (“healthy, functional community” vs. “building codes and regulations”) was the ‘real’ story.  Left unchallenged, the city’s bureaucratic story would have prevailed unless I insisted they come on site to see my situation.  Thankfully, more often than not they found ways to accommodate our needs within the codes and regulations.   They changed their story to fit our reality.

How ‘on-site’ is your bureaucracy?   

When was the last time as a leader you put your boots on the ground to see whether the policy, procedure and execution that defines your bureaucracy, truly contributes to creating the pathways to accomplishing your purpose? 

Do some good old management by walking around.  Walk the front line with your employees and discover whether your Story of Purpose is heard over the Story of your Bureaucracy.